A Chinese television journalist has been suspended from work after being photographed wearing sunglasses and holding an umbrella while interviewing volunteers in a typhoon-hit community in southeastern China.

The picture, widely circulated on the internet, showed her speaking to volunteers in Xiamen, in Fujian province, as they worked to help the city recover from the deadly Typhoon Meranti, which killed 13 mainland people and left 700,000 others affected.

Xiamen TV station said on its microblog account on Tuesday that the woman journalist had behaved “inappropriately”while doing the interview.

“Her behaviour has violated the professional codes of conduct, damaged the image of journalists and has had a negative impact on the public,” it said.

Typhoon Meranti killed at least seven people in Fujian and left nine others missing after striking the southeast coast of the mainland on September 15. It also killed one other person and injured 44 others after striking Taiwan.

The decision to suspend the journalist came days after the photograph went viral after being shared by Chinese internet users.